Information bringing people together...
Maren's list of environmental, cultural, and social justice events in and around Pittsburgh.

Apr 5 & 6: King Corn and Big River screening

Chatham University hosts free screenings of two films produced and directed by Aaron Woolf, King Corn and Big River, with Woolf leading a discussion following the showings. King Corn is a documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation and affects our ecology and economy far beyond the borders of Iowa. Big River investigates the environmental impact of that acre of corn on the people and places downstream.

Who is Maren?

Maren Cooke is a planetary scientist by training, but now concentrates on environmental education and activism on climate, air quality, land use, energy, and sustainability. She serves on the board of GASP, and works closely with other organizations including 350 Pgh, CCL, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Pittsburghers Against Single-Use Plastic, Sierra Club, Grow Pgh, Transition Pgh, the Green Education Movement, CMU’s Institute for Green Science, and the City of Pittsburgh. She volunteers as an Urban Ecosteward, a Tree Tender, and a Master Gardener, and co-founded a nature education program and a school garden at a local K-8. She has helped create science curricula and train teachers, and has taught physics, astronomy, environmental science, and permaculture to people of all ages. She operates an urban microfarm, supplying organic produce to a local restaurant and a food pantry and garden plants to the surrounding community, and has been rebuilding her family’s home as a demonstration site for green building and green living. Maren also organizes and hosts Sustainability Salons, a monthly environmental education forum and community gathering now eight years running.